Every week on Globalnews.ca Canadian golf stars Graham DeLaet and Adam Hadwin take readers behind the scenes of the PGA Tour, providing insights, perceptions and observations as they battle at the game’s biggest tournaments.
It is the biggest events. The most volunteers. The best treatment. The best conditioned courses. Crowds that grow with every step you take.
There are a lot of ways the PGA Tour is different from the tournaments I’ve played over the years, whether it was on PGA Tour Canada or the last few years on Web.com Tour.
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The most immediate element you notice that’s different is how every player on the PGA Tour is treated. Don’t get me wrong, we were treated well on Web.com, but this is a huge step up. You get a courtesy car each week and people bend over backwards to make sure everything is right for you. It’s an extra level of service that I don’t expect, but there are so many volunteers to help us out on the PGA Tour that they want to make it easy for you. You just walk into player services and tell them you need something and it is taken care of. I initially expected to just be pointed in the right direction, but they are willing to do so much for you. I almost feel a little lazy because of it. And some players take that for granted, and it is hard not to if you’ve been out here for a few years.
As for the crowds, they don’t make much of an impact on me. Whether there are five people or 50,000 people, it doesn’t make a difference. I have a track record of playing well in big events, but I’m not sure why that’s the case. If no one ever came to watch me play, it wouldn’t bother me at all. I don’t do it for recognition or notoriety. I’m playing against the golf course.
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One thing I’ll say I’ve noticed is it seems a little easier to make a cut on the PGA Tour than it is on the Web.com Tour. I know that sounds crazy but I’m not the first person to point this out. On the Web.com Tour it was 60 and ties that made the cut and now it is 65 and ties. And you can’t imagine how big a difference that makes from the PGA Tour, where it is 70 and ties. I will also go out on the limb and say—and it is just a general observation—that the guys on the Web.com Tour, on a Friday when they are a few back of making the cut, will grind over every shot. That isn’t always the case on the PGA Tour, where some guys don’t seem to care as much whether they make the cut. I think guys starting on the PGA Tour having played on the Web.com Tour see the importance of making an extra cut. And my mindset might change if I’m on the PGA Tour for a decade, or if I had fully exempt status from winning a major and saw things differently. But I’m just a player trying to hang onto his playing privileges, so every week matters to me.
It might sound cliché, but for me the biggest perk is competing with the best players week in and week out. I could care less about the courtesy car. I’ve rented them before and I played just fine. I think once I start to grow my foundation on the tour and start moving up into bigger events, that’ll be the best part.
That said, there are so many cool things I get to do and be a part of because I play professional golf for a living that never fails to amaze me. I’ve played Callaway clubs for a number of years and they’ve often included me in their marketing campaigns and commercials, which never gets old. And now that I’m on the PGA Tour and if I play better, they’ll likely include me more of these campaigns, which is great. I really enjoy the business side of the sport. But for me it’s all about playing golf, regardless of what tour I am on. That could be the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Canada or Web.com Tour. The perk is just being able to play golf for a living.
Adam Hadwin is playing this week in the Honda Classic, which airs Saturday and Sunday on Global TV.
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